24 . nan," says the Man in the Green Over- coat. "They tryin' to grab hin1, huh?" "Yes," says Tim. "They are. ..A,nd the poor guy's feet are none too good and I'm sure he got a bum heart. The Army'l1 kill him. Do you think you could do anything for him? You're a great nlan at straightening things out. " "There's lots of cases like that," says the Man in the Green Overcoat, trying to talk like a surrogate or something. "But I'll tell you what I can do. It hap- pens I got a friend on this draft board, known him for years. It this draft hoard, is it, the one right here for this dis- . k ..." tnc r " s " T . " M ' f ure, 1m says. arty s rom right around here, neighborhood kid." " I ' . h ' , G . " I ' 11 t s a Clnc, reenle says. see this friend of mine tonight. I ain't see him for months, but he'll be tickled to death to see me. Always thought the world of lne." Overcoat starts out, and when he's go- ing he says, "That Marty won't have to go into the Army any plore than Shirley Temple will." " F ' ' " T . H b Ine. 1m says. e remem er later that Shirley's already in, he read "-There she's an honorary colonel or something. Inside an hour, the Man in the Green Overcoat is back again. "You come to '-' the right man, Tim," he says. "I got your boy fixed up. My friend-it's old Mr. Masafin if you'll keep it under your hat-he was kind of funny at first. But I talked him into it. He and the board are going to reject this Marty so hard the civilians won't even take hitn b k " ( ac . " y , , " T . ou re a great Inan. says un. "I'm glad to do it for the guy. Glad to do him a favor. Get him all fixed " up. \Vell, sure enough, late the next aft- ernoon, Marty COlne bouncing in. He was half-crocked and singing, "You Can 'Vin, "Tinsocki." It's a college song from out West someplace they had on the juke boxes and it was close enough F OR the time, that was all. Tim said nothing more, just let the Inatter sink in. Finely, the Man in the Green ,\,::-\:::.-..,... '<:10,\ -x:::;-::::.::.:;:;:::; ::\{t: ;ït . :... ' , -" ' ' - ,, Y;'11. ' " '<;4 . . =-:."... ., . , '/" " . '" ,", :', f .."",:<<% w"'" "t.,. ..... ::,\, f= ,'. . .,""",,: "Y oo-hoo Mr. Brown! Is this a weed?" ) M " B . for arty to a war song. e Jeezus, they took "me! Bejeezus, they took me!" he kept yelling, between "\Vinsocki" and another jolt of Overholt. Tim and the Overholt got all the de- tails out of hinl. Marty says, "1 hope the government don't find out before I get in uniforn1 and away to camp, but I think that Mr. Masafin on the draft hoard is crazy. He kept saying, 'You're going into the i\rmy if I got to stick you together with Spearmint,' and he whizz Ine up to a hospital for a special exami- nation! The docs up there give me a note to the i\rmy docs about my heart, said it was tricky but it worked." J\ BOl.TT a week later, off \-vent fi. Marty to camp. They give hÌ1n leave to settle up his affairs, that's what they call it. Tim telline the only affairs is to try and get this girl listen to him a little. "1 ell, she must have listened, because hefore he went away, Tim and me were going to the newsreels and we bunked into Marty and the girl. They told us they were going to the Music Hall and chop suey afterward. How they made out afterward, who knows about that? God knows I don't and Tim don't. But out of it all, the I\;lan in the Green Overcoat got the shame of his <- life. He's not in the saloon for a couple of ITIonths, hecause exactly that time he went up to Rochester to help them make bombsights for big money. But they got wise to him, got sick of him trying to suggest improvements on the bomb- sights, and back he came. That was two ITIonths after he did the fixing. "How'd your friend Marty make out that time, I could get him.a good job in Rochester?" he asked Tim. " Oh M " T . " H '. , arty. says 1m. e s In the ,i\rmy now-was up here on fur- lough a couple weeks ago, and he looked like a million bucks in the soldier suit." "The lousy double-crosser!" says the Man in the Green Overcoat. He meant old Mr. Masafin.-JoHN McNuLTY . HOvY TO I)ETER::\IINE THE SPEED OF THE SHIP Provide a friend with a piece of wood (or a big ball of wet newspaper) and send him as far forward as possible along the deck. Station yourself toward the stern at a point where you can keep one eye on your assistant, one eye on the water be- low you, and one eye on your watch. -From UScience from Shipboard/ pub- lished by Science Service. It'll take us a little time to find that point. Better stop the ship